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Hall of Fame vote: A line in the sand

By Chaz Scoggins, chaz@lowellsun.com

Updated:
12/30/2012 06:36:50 AM EST

My 2013 Hall of Fame ballot has been submitted with the maximum 10 names checked off. I'm not entertaining any illusions that any of the 10 players I voted for will be elected in this, the first true test of star ballplayers tainted by the Steroids Era.

My prediction is that the only candidate who will be elected is one for whom I didn't vote. That would be pitcher Jack Morris, and if he is elected I suspect he will be tainted by the very opposite end of the spectrum, that the decisive difference was that he just may be the last electable, and therefore palatable to a large segment of the voters, "clean" player on the ballot for some time.

Morris has been on the ballot for 13 years without being elected. He did come reasonably close last year, being named on two-thirds of the ballots when 75% is needed for election. But I can't help but feel a large part of the reason he's come close after such a long time is because his career ended before use of performance-enhancing substances became rampant in the game.

This is Morris' next-to-last chance to become a Hall of Famer before his 15-year period of eligibility for election by the Baseball Writers Association of America comes to an end.

I don't dispute that Morris was a very good pitcher. He was a durable three-time 20-game winner who compiled a 254-186 record from 1977-94. But his 3.90 career ERA in an era before pitchers became routinely shellacked by juiced-up hitters is a turnoff to this voter.

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If he's elected, he will have the highest career ERA of any pitcher enshrined in Cooperstown. Red Ruffing, with a 3.80 mark compiled mostly during the 1930s when hitters dominated the game, currently owns the highest.

I also think Morris' dramatic 10-inning, 1-0 victory for the Twins over the Braves in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series has given his candidacy an aura, and the voting rules state: "No automatic elections based on performances such as a batting average of .400 or more for one year, pitching a perfect game or similar outstanding achievement shall be permitted."

There are dozens of pitchers whose records are as good, and in some cases even better, than Morris's who are not in the Hall of Fame.

And -- in my opinion, of course -- there are at least 10 candidates on this ballot who are more worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame than Jack Morris. But this is the 2013 ballot, the first year a large number of Steroid Era superstars have become eligible for election, and my bretheren in the BBWAA are troubled by how to judge the candidacies even of players who have never been publicly linked to steroids. The fact that Jeff Bagwell has received little more than 50% of the vote in his first two years on the ballot indicates that all players from that era, guilty or not, are being tarred with the same brush.

We all have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. My personal line is that if a player or pitcher used PEDs before Major League Baseball banned them, I won't hold it against him. If he was caught using them after the ban, like Rafael Palmeiro and Manny Ramirez were, then I won't vote for him.

In the cases of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, for example, I believe their records already merited induction into the Hall of Fame before they fell under the suspicions of using PEDs.

Here's how my ballot looked. The results of the voting will be announced on Jan. 9.

Craig Biggio -- Bagwell's teammate on the Astros for many years, Biggio made the transition from catching to become a four-time Gold Glove winner at second base. There are only a handful of second basemen in Cooperstown, and Biggio belongs after amassing 3,060 hits, scoring 1,844 runs, stealing 414 bases, cracking 688 doubles and 291 homers, and batting .281 in 20 years.

Barry Bonds -- I think he's a despicable human being, but there are already a few of those in Cooperstown, so that's not a reason not to vote for him. MLB's all-time home run leader with 762 and a lifetime .298 hitter with a .607 slugging percentage, there was no scarier hitter in baseball for several years, which is why he was walked a record 232 times in 2004 and still hit 45 homers that season. A seven-time MVP, Bonds had 12 100-RBI and 100-run seasons and also stole 514 bases while winning eight Gold Gloves.

Roger Clemens -- Seven Cy Young Awards, 354 victories, 4,672 strikeouts, and a 3.12 ERA should say it all. He won 20 games five times, seven ERA titles, and was an 11-time All-Star.

Mark McGwire -- Although he has admitted to using PEDs, McGwire and Sammy Sosa resurrected baseball during the late 1990s the same way Babe Ruth did after the Black Sox Scandal. I'm undecided on Sosa's credentials, and I didn't have room on the ballot to vote for him anyway, but I have no doubts about McGwire, who hit 583 homers in just 16 seasons and drove in 1,414 runs while posting a .588 slugging percentage and .394 on-base mark.

Dale Murphy -- This is his last year on the ballot, and despite being unquestionably "clean," he's never come remotely close to being elected. Like Biggio, he made the transition from catching to Gold Glove center fielder with 30-30 speed and power.

Mike Piazza -- A 62nd-round draft pick who became the greatest offensive catcher in the game, Piazza hit .308 with 427 homers, slugged .545, and drove in 1,335 runs in 16 seasons.

Tim Raines -- One of the best leadoff hitters ever, Raines hit .294 with a .385 on-base percentage over a 23-year career and stole 808 bases. He also had good power, hitting 430 doubles, 170 homers, and 113 triples while compiling more walks than strikeouts.

Curt Schilling -- He was a bubble guy for me with a 216-146 career record and 3.46 ERA. But after mulling it over for the last five years, his magnificent 11-2 post-season record with a 2.23 ERA pushed him over the top.

Lee Smith -- A closer who often pitched more than an inning to collect his saves, unlike the modern one-inning closer, Smith piled up 478 saves in 18 seasons and still ranks third on the all-time list.

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